It was such a beautiful day, I decided I would take my bike off the wind trainer and venture out to the bike path for a cycle. I don’t often take my bike off the back porch, which I suppose could be understood considering I was run over by a truck, died, came back, spent six months in a spinal ward then was left with permanent injuries! However, the sunshine beckoned and there was no going back.

So I pulled on my old racing gear, complete with skins, knicks (cycling pants), cleats, helmet, gloves and if you didn’t notice the skinny, wasted legs, scars and limp (which isn’t noticeable while riding) you wouldn’t even know I had no feeling from the waist down.

I took off down the driveway and onto the path. I picked up speed and thought I was really gunning it when I heard the sound of tyres quickly approaching. “Uh-uh”, I thought, “here comes one of the riders from the local riding club.” I started peddling harder, but the sound of those tyres stayed close. I then looked round to see what sort of athlete would dare to pass me and was shocked to see an elderly man perched upright on his bike, which resembled a relic, no helmet, sandshoes and a mudguard flapping around in the slipstream - and he wasn’t even puffing!

Slightly deflated, if not feeling a bit silly, I tucked in behind him and kept up. Soon after that I heard another noise approaching. ” Oh, no not another!” I glanced to my side to see  I was being overtaken by a guy on a mountain bike who, as he was passing, yelled out arrogantly, “You’re not going to be beaten by a mountain bike are you?” 

If only he knew he was overtaking a partial paraplegic! Now I was really psyched. Bring it on, I thought.

I selected the highest gear and peddled, my little legs pumping as hard as they could. One hour later I arrived home, exhausted, but feeling pretty chuffed with myself.  As I sat down with my well-deserved cup of tea, I reflected on what had I learnt from this encounter.

Well, if nothing else, it was pretty funny. After all, I did feel silly getting overtaken by an octogenarian and it was a humbling experience, and no one would have blamed me if I had turned around, tail between my legs, and said, oh well, no-one would expect me to continue. Well, no-one but me of course!

Life throws these challenges at us, not so we can give up but so we can change gears, put our heads down and dig deeper than we ever have.  Life is full of problems but the moment we accept that, then there are no problems - only opportunities to learn grow, evolve. Times are tough, and you may be stuggling to hold life together at the moment, but when you feel like giving up just pretend you are getting overtaken by some elderly gentleman on a bike, put your head down, change gears and give it everything you’ve got.

You will surprise yourself with what you are capable of, and you never know, you might just have fun doing it! 

Love Janine